CURTAIN FALLS ON THEATER SCHOOL

Theda Reale's room facing Rosemary Avenue and a wooded lot is bare except for some clothes, a suitcase and a lamp.

The former student of the Burt Reynolds Institute for Theatre Training was packing Wednesday, the last official day that rent for the remaining students in the program would be paid by the beleaguered school.

"I don't have any hard feelings," said Reale, 35, who moved to the area from Los Angeles. "I had gotten out of acting. I left L.A. to rediscover myself, and BRITT made that possible for me."

Reale said she would move to a friend's house for a couple of weeks. Then she'll travel to Fort Worth to play Katherine in The Taming of the Shrew during a seven-week Shakespeare festival.

Some of her fellow students said they planned to stay in town, waiting tables while they hunt for theater work. Others are packing their bags to go home until they regroup.

They almost lost their apartments at Ballet Villages sooner. Their landlord served eviction notices at the beginning of the month but gave the students a grace period when BRITT board member Mary Montgomery and her husband, Bob, paid $20,000 of the $30,000 in rent and utilities owed.

With all of BRITT's deep debt, its future has become tenuous.

In the student program, BRITT offered intense training for 10 to 20 students a year. Each student had to try out for a slot in the program. The training, sometimes lasting 12 hours a day, often drew names such as Burt Reynolds, Charles Nelson Reilly and Jose Quintero. Students not only acted but worked on set design and other aspects of the theater.

Interim managing director Herb Benn presented a plan to West Palm Beach two weeks ago that called for the school side of the theater to pay for itself. He estimated the cost at about $150,000.

Still, if BRITT survives and an executive director follows Benn's recommendations, the class of 1997 could be the last.

"Herb's report is in no sense a reality without an analysis from a new executive director," said board member Al Zucaro, a West Palm Beach city commissioner. "He was asked to bring forward a restructuring plan, and his plan suggests that the school be separated from the theater."

If the program is eliminated, some students say, BRITT ended the school on a who-cares note.

"This year, we weren't too much a part of it," said student Tony Foley, 24, who was supposed to play Tom Sawyer in the final BRITT production before it was canceled.

Several of the 13 students said they were glad they were done with the whole mess, which cut their terms in half, ending in March instead of September.

"I think it's sad," said student India McDonald, 22. "The school has been so successful until this point. Until now, it was a wonderful program. But until they get their act together, they don't deserve to have people give up a year of their lives and work for peanuts."

McDonald plans to leave this morning for her hometown of Tulsa. She will live with her parents during the summer, saving any earnings so she can join another BRITT student in New York this fall.

"Picking up and moving 2,000 miles from Mommy and Daddy was the hardest part," she said. "Now I know I can do it."